China Sunergy opens factory in Istanbul

China Sunergy Co. (CSUN) has opened a solar facility in Istanbul, Turkey with Turkish partner Seul Energy Investment Corp. The first 150MW solar module line will begin production this month.

CSUN moves to Turkey.

Flickr/KLMircea

The other 100MW cell line in the new facility will begin production in March this year. According to Seul Energy, CSUN is also planning on moving additional 200MW of equipment to Turkey from the facilities in Shanghai in the first quarter of 2013 and to gradually ramp up production. This plan is nevertheless subject to market dynamics and the Turkish plant's production progress.

The new facility is in the Trade Free Zone in Istanbul and CSUN expects the plant to create over 1,200 jobs locally. They also expect Turkey to become the second largest manufacturing base for the company after China.

The two companies signed agreements to invest jointly in three newly established companies under the name CSUN Eurasia to produce PV cells and modules in Turkey and to invest in downstream solar projects in the country and the region around.

Stephen Cai, CEO of China Sunergy commented, "We are delighted to see our facilities in Turkey established and ready for production. Solar projects in Turkey enjoy higher feed-in tariffs when adopting locally manufactured cells and modules. Therefore, we believe our cooperation with the strong local partner SEUL Energy will help us capture substantial market share in the region.

Cagri Seymen, Chairman of SEUL Energy noted that Turkey’s energy demand has dramatically increased over the past decade and that it is poised to become the next new solar energy dynamo in the region.